EU Extends Sanctions Against Russia Into 2019

Russian-held Crimean businesses will remain under European Union (EU) sanctions for another year after the bloc agreed to extend its economic actions until mid-2019.

The EU joined the United States in 2014 in blacklisting a range of Russian industries following Moscow’s annexation of the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine. It has since extended the measures in six-month increments, with the latest economic sanctions expiring July 31.

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“On 18 June 2018, the Council extended the restrictive measures in response to the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol by Russia until 23 June 2019,” the EU’s council of ministers said in a statement.

Under these measures, Crimean businesses are banned from exporting and importing goods and technologies, EU-based companies cannot invest in the peninsula and EU cruise ships cannot call at Crimean ports.

Other EU sanctions, extended March through to Sept. 15, impose travel bans and asset freezes against 155 people and 38 companies over Russia’s Crimean annexation and its support for pro-Moscow rebels in eastern Ukraine.